#this doesn't even look like sims 4 anymore!

[evilgoof]

compared to how he looked before....

[nikatyler]

sometimes a family is a --- take three because when have i ever been consistent

[rebouks]

Keeping Lag to a Minimum...

I was chatting about a few things I do to combat lag over on discord and realised I do quite a bit of maintenance to reduce lag/load times. I decided to write em all down and before I knew it, I had a big ol' list. Here's hoping it helps!

Save/File Tips:

Clear your caches (located in the same spot as your mod folder fyi) I usually delete the onlinethumbnailcache, avatarcache and localthumbcache caches every time I exit the game, the main one to delete regularly is the localthumbcache file, they're just temporary files but it can get pretty big after a while.. if you're having any mod issues, particularly ui ones, it's always worth deleting that to see if it helps.

Remove any saves you're not using from your saves folder, and keep an eye on save file sizes. In my experience, any saves over around 30-40mb start to get a bit laggy. Things that bump this size up are the amount of townies in game and the amount of lots/objects in the world.

Regarding the above point, I regularly bulldoze lots I don't need anymore, just to save the game from having to cope with extra shit to load in the background and reduce save file bloat.

Similarly, I delete a lot of unnecessary townies. Also, try to keep the amount of outfits on townies to a minimum, ain't no townie need four swimsuit outfits, the game will thank you..

If you have cheats enabled you can usually shift-click/delete object on things like random coffee cups or stray cupcakes sims foolishly drop around the world (or eat em.. whatever tickles ur pickle) just get rid!

Whilst we're keeping objects in game to a minimum.. I try to clear sims inventories now and then, including townies. You can do this via mccc even if you're not currently playing that household by heading to MC Cleaner -> Sell Sim Inventory/Sell Household Inventory. RANDOM LUMPS OF CLAY BEGONE!

Think of a save file like a lot.. the more objects in it, the laggier it gets! Try your best to remove anything or anyone unnecessary where you can.

Hit "Save As" instead of "Save" now and then - the more you overwrite a save, the more chance it has of going wonky, treat your game to a fresh one now and then and remove the old one from your saves folder (maybe don't delete it right away in case you wanna roll back, keep it somewhere safe).

If you can (although ik it can be a pain) set up a new/fresh save, you'd be surprised how bogged down old ones can get! For legacy players, it's usually best to do this whenever you have a small family to save yourself some pain, since you can just save the household and take em to a new save (you will lose sims inventories/household inventories/relationships with sims outside the household tho so beware! Pictures/other collectables can be saved to a lot however, and you can always cheat back relationship bits etc.. bit of a last resort but new saves are shiny and fast!)

Make sure your Screenshots/Video folders are empty - move em somewhere else, it works, trust me. If you have a lot of custom music installed try n' clear some of those out too.. the smaller that Sims 4 directory is, the better.

Delete any last exceptions/last crashes (same spot as your mod folder again) you don't need em unless you're planning to upload em somewhere for help.

Settings Etc:

If you get a bad lag spike, opening the main menu and/or saving can randomly stop this. If it doesn't, try exiting the game, clearing your localthumbcache and restarting.

Clearing all notifications from the game panel can also help.

If you can, close all other apps and background apps you don't need whilst playing, ts4 is super memory hungry so it can definitely help.

The GraphicsRules Override file by Simp4Sims can reduce lag/latency and make your game look a little better in the process!

Srslysims Simulation Lag Fix mod can help reduce lag too (if you've altered the game speed via mccc tho, don't use this unless you plan on resetting it to default).

If you aren't keen on, or barely use a pack, consider disabling it.

Not ideal, especially for those of us taking screenshots, but lowering the graphics settings whilst playing definitely helps.

If you use re/g-shade, consider switching it off whilst playing and only turn it on for screenshots.

A clean and tidy pc/laptop runs better in general. Remove anything you're not using/don't need anymore to free up space, remove temp files, clean up your folders now and again etc etc.. especially that dreaded mod folder, speaking of...

Managing Mods:

SORT OUT YOUR MODS FOLDER FOR THE LOVE OF GOD.. skdsjdjs it doesn't have to be immaculate but at the very least try n' clear it out now n' then. Also try to separate your script mods/overrides from the rest, patch days don't need to be so stressful ;-;

Personally, I don't merge my mods; if something breaks it's much harder to pinpoint! It makes it easier to find/delete specific mods too.. and let's face it, there's usually one or two items in that set you could do without lmaooo.. also, don't think it helps much tbh! Yeah you could say the game doesn't have to work as hard to load merged files but that's debatable, it's still the same amount of items/polys at the end of the day ¯\(°_o)/¯

If you like merging files and/or see results from doing so, you can merge stuff you definitely know you're never getting rid of, especially CAS/BB stuff.. but steer clear of merging gameplay/script mods! If a merged file seems to be the culprit when using the 50/50 method, try unmerging it and 50/50ing it again! You might not need to get rid of everything if something's borked.

Bulk Rename Utility can be used to remove all spaces and special characters from your mod files, the game doesn't particularly like loading those so it'll thank you.

The Sims 4 Mod Manager is a great way to sort through your mods, you can easily see, move and delete files from here (not great for build/buy, poses etc as thumbnails are usually missing, but great for CAS stuff). An extra hint with this that I've noticed is that if any of my mods get renamed with [D1] at the beginning after looking through them via the mod manager, it means it's a duplicate file so you can get rid.

I also use the Sims 4 Tray Importer to help me sort through mods. Simply save a sim/lot with any cc you don't want and find it in the importer, you can then go through all the cc in the cc tab and delete/sort it (I also use this to sort cc if a bunch has the wrong tags etc, makes it easier to find in my folders by saving em to a lot or w/e - it also spots duplicates which is handy).

It's a ballache, but the 50/50 method is tried and tested if you're having issues.

I like to keep an abandoned cc folder tucked away somewhere, that way you can remove mods willy nilly without stressing about losing them. If you change your mind, you can always grab it back!

[deedee-sims]

The second part is a wedding-themed cas set! 💍

Renaissance Gown

There's nothing renaissance about this anymore, but well. It's a mashup of Mistysensation's 4t2 Miiko Renaissance Dress and Skells Flower Girl skirt. AF only, has all morphs. I made 8 recolors, but here's the PSD for recolorists. Some patterns are from Freepik and Deviantart.

Download - Alternate

Petal Gown

A mashup from the sims 3 Petal Dress and the TSM Corset Puffy Dress. AF only, has all morphs. I made 6 recolors, but here's the PSD. Some clipping might occur at the shoulder area, but I tried my best.

Download - Alternate

3t2 The Tux

Found a suit that wasn't converted yet! For AM, TM, EM, and CU, they have the appropriate morphs. There are 6 recolors, but here's the PSD. You can choose if you want the other ages repo'd to the AM files, or not. Shoes are by MDP.

Download The Tux Repo'd - Alternate

Download The Tux Standalone - Alternate

Ruched Sleeve Gown

And another gown XD. It's a mashup of Pudding's 3t2 Pointy Collar, MDP's 4t2 Cropped Bow, and Off Shoulder Evening Gown. They're for teens, adults, and elders, they have the appropriate morphs. They come in 6 colors, but here's the PSD. You can choose if you want the other ages repo'd to the AF files, or not.

Download Ruched Sleeve Gown Repo'd - Alternate

Download Ruched Sleeve Gown Standalone - Alternate

3t2 Lil Sophisticate With Bow

Something for the flower girls! CF only, has all morphs. There are 6 recolors, but here's the PSD. Shoes are from the... Celebrations SP?

Download - Alternate

Rented-Space's 4t2 EP01 Suspenders Bow

It's rare to find formalwear for tots, so here it is! For PU, they come in the original 8 colors. Shoes are 3t2 ones by Yuxi, converted to toddlers by IDEU.

Download - Alternate

4t2 EP11 Laurel Earrings Edit

I didn't like the og version of this, so I made an edit that makes more sense to me XD From TF to EF, they come in the original 10 colors. You can choose if you want them as glasses or as BV jewelry.

Download EP11 Laurel Earrings Edit as glasses - Alternate

Download EP11 Laurel Earrings Edit as jewelry - Alternate

Understated Flower Headband

I chopped it off from a sims 3 hair, then I continued suffering with it XD It doesn't fit many hairs, but I think it looks cute anyway. From CF to EF, I made 4 recolors, but here's the PSD. You can choose if you want them as glasses or as BV jewelry.

Download Understated Flower Headband as glasses - Alternate

Download Understated Flower Headband as jewelry - Alternate

Phew, that was a lot of text XD On to the last part!

[blagam0nie]

My Tavi fancanon cuz I have geo exam tommorow but I'm too lazy.

• He's really hard-working. Like he often does paperwork untill midnight, even when he's sick (he gets cold at least once a month). The only day when he refuses working is friday 13th. Tavi doesn't even try to get up from bed, becuse he is sure that something is going to kill him that day.

• Being Bi is like being blond in Apollo's family. Apollo is bi, Will's bi, Nero is Bi (he litteraly had a husband). Tavi is bi too but he doesn't have time for such a stupid things as "romance". He had a crush for Jason when he was younger, but when he got paranoid about being betrayed he killed that feeling. When he saw Jason talking with Reyena about Piper and hurting her with that, tavi was happy that he doesn't love him anymore.

• If someone kicked Tavi out of New Rome and gave him computer or something like that he would play CS:GO saying bad words in russian angrily or steals swimming pool's ladders in the sims 4

• Tavi and Jason are simmilar hight and nobody noticed the diffrence so Tavi starter to wear high heels or platform shoes just to be taller and be able to look down at Jason.

• Tavi thinks that he feels so chill with Michael becuse he uses charmspeak (he doesn't).

• He still cannot belive that when he literally tried to murder Will's friends, his home e.t.c., the worst thing that Will was able to say was "anemic loser". Like Will just can't cook.

[anamoon63]

Simblr New Years Resolution 2024

Thanks @serenasims for the tag! 🤗💗

What's your Resolution for your Simblr?

This is going to be a shock, even for me, but I want to focus more on my gameplay, keep it simple and leave the long and intricate stories for my normal writing, i.e. my non sims writing. I also want to enjoy the game more, play for the sake of playing, have fun with The Sims like I used to. It doesn't mean I won't continue the stories I've already started, but maybe I'll switch to a simpler, yet visually more appealing format. I'd like to find a balance between the visual and the written word, if that makes any sense at all. I'm talking about less words, but also less photos, to be less repetitive and hectic. I don't know, I'm still looking for that change, I hope to be able to achieve that this year.

What do you want from the Sims Franchise?

Ah, where do I start? Lol. Well, I'd like a whole new game as the Sims 4 hasn't quite finished convincing me, it's been out there for 20 years and I'm just starting to play it. Anyway, for Sims 4 in particular I would like the same as my dear friend @serenasims, you know, concerts, bands, cars…To be completely honest, I don't know if I want more stuff for S4 because my game is so in pieces now, those back-to-back updates break so many things every time they come. Doesn't mean I haven't had tons of fun with TS4! 💗 Now, if I had something to ask for it would be, open world, cars, bigger worlds with more houses, the ability to create lots and add them to the map like in Sims 3, be able to remove corrupted or ruined houses. Truth is, I would prefer if they did a whole new game, but if The Sims 5 is going to be this Project Rene thing, just please leave me out. Lastly, if I really wanted something from the franchise as a whole (because seriously, I don't expect anything from EA anymore), and if I were allowed to dream, I wish they would fix The Sims 3, remaster it, make it work for everyone (it works for me, but that takes a lot of dedication and upkeep). In short, I wish EA hadn't trashed The Sims 3 like they did, and actually fixed the bugs, if they had, now it would now be an even greater game than it already is. Ok, I didn't want this to turn into a rant, but, well, you know me. 😋

Any other New Years Resolutions?

If this question is in regard to real life, well, I'd like to start a site with my stories, non sims, the ones I've written throughout my life. But that's just a thought at this moment, I'm not really sure if I'll be able to pull it off. The resolution would be in any case, to take steps towards that, and to start writing my new novel already, cause at my age, one is more aware of the number of years one has left, it's as if a countdown has begun. I mean, I'm not that old, lol, but you never know, hence my other resolutions: take care of my health, keep exercising, eat healthy, drink more water, give up junk food, smile, have fun, be less worried about everything, etc. In other words: keep me alive and happy. I don't usually make resolutions, they are more like wishes or plans, projects that I don't know if I'll have the time or the energy to accomplish, but that I really want to pursue this year, or in the years to come. :)

I know, as usual, my post turned out quite long and incoherent, lol. Sorry, but I couldn't help myself.

Also, as almost always, my tag answers are a little late, so I'm tagging all my mutuals and followers who haven't done this one yet. 😊

[yooniesim]

I've seen a lot of people over the past couple days discussing patreon early access and whether or not it's included under ea's new policy. Most seem to agree that exclusive/perma-paywall models are bad, and a lot of people seem okay with early access. So I thought I'd share just why I don't really approve of the early access model either.

1) Trusting patreon creators (in the sims community) with your private information is a risk. Unfortunately, it's been shown by exclusive and early access creators alike that it simply isn't safe to trust them with your info. Eacc creators (not just exclusive) have communicated with each other about those that have shared their content early, and the info they have can include usernames, email addresses, real names, and possibly even paypal information if you have it linked to your patreon account. Users have been doxxed and harassed over sims cc of all things. I, personally, don't feel I can pledge to anyone safely anymore, whether they're following the old 2-3 week early access model or not.

2) There is no quality control. There is no way to determine what you're going to get before you pay for it, and if it's not good quality, you're most likely not going to get a refund. Patreon doesn't make creators refund you, they have to decide to do it on their own. So you can have mods that don't work, ridiculous high poly meshes, no proper LODs, low quality textures, etc and you're stuck with that.

3) There are no standards. People on here argue a lot about what should be charged for and what shouldn't, because there's no consistent standard for what is acceptable or not. Should sims/tray files be early access? Recolors? Conversions? Only mesh edits? What about tiny mesh edits? Is it the time alone that matters? But if that's the case, how much time should a creator have to spend on something for it to be worth paying for? There's no agreement, and so what people will put behind a paywall gets more and more ridiculous over time.

4) New (and some old) accounts making patreons without interacting with the community in any other way besides making money off them. There's no standard for who should make an account and when, so a lot started out just with the sole intention of making money. Also, there are older creators that tapered off their interactions with the community to purely focus on patreon. Early access took over the community so completely because it was easy and anyone could do it, and so they did. This only furthered the problems with quality and standards of cc.

5) Early access creators becoming exclusive over time after they built a following. Also, other shady methods to make more money I've discussed in other posts, such as: making super tiny edits look more enticing by lumping them together in "add-on packs", linking their "free" content through link shorteners/simsfinds/tsr, steadily raising tier prices in order to access all of their content, releasing a piece of cc for early access then coverting the same piece of cc to another frame and putting it under early access again, increasing the early access time period or "forgetting" to unlock things on time, and more. All of this just shows me that many early access creators aren't much better than the exclusive creators. They're toeing the line to stay in the public favor, and perhaps avoid legal consequences, and nothing more.

6) Shifting the focus in the community from creativity to monetary gain. Modding communities (such as those for the Sims, TES, Fallout, Dragon Age, Stardew Valley, and many many more) are built upon learning from one another and working together to enhance the gaming experience. In other words, to have fun! Modders have done amazing things without having the goal of making money off of it, and while it's nice to have that as an option, the sims community shows that it winds up hurting more than it helps when it consumes to this extent. I've talked about this before so I won't go into it too much, but creators are burned out and tired, and other simmers are frustrated and bored. It changed the community as a whole and it shows.

As a concept, early access is fine, but in practice... when everyone is doing it, in so many different ways, with no sense of standards... it becomes a problem.

[nyssasims]

Hii! I'm absolutely in love of how good your screenshots are, both in game and in cas, I was wondering is it possible you could make a little tutorial on how you do it? Idk why mine always look like blurry or something idk it's very uninspiring

hi @simsinfinitylt. thank you so much 🥺! and please do not feel discouraged. it really is all trial and error, i promise. it definitely took me a minute myself to find what worked best for me. this is my current editing system:

chapter 1: a pc for me the most important thing is to have a good computer that can play the game on max settings. make sure all your settings are maxed out, with laptop mode and edge smoothing off. i also play the game in 4k resolution (3840 x 2160), the max for my monitor (but it might be different for you).

additionally, i use the graphics overhaul overrider by simp4sims, the 'ultimate quality' preset.

graphic overhaul: graphics rules setters

here are my pc specs...

chapter 2: maybe she's born with it. maybe... it's reshade reshade honestly does most of the work as well as the world lighting mods by @softerhaze. i hope to be able to find time to make my own preset one day, but for now, i use the daisies reshade by @breezytrait. here are my lighting and visual mods...

reshade: daisies (i tweaked the preset a bit, mostly increasing the mxao here) world lighting mods: twinkle toes, shadows for days light replacements: no glow v2, out of the dark, inner glow cloud replacement: studio ghibli clouds

chapter 3: say click. take a pic

i take all of my screenshots in tab mode. i find that it's best to go into tab mode further away than you want the picture, then slowly move the camera forward with the arrow keys to frame the screenshot. this is especially great for really up close photos of sims faces.

i capture all my screenshots with the built in reshade capture function and use the no drift camera mod to keep the tab camera steady

tab mode mods: no drift

chapter 4: call me by your lightroom

now that the screenshots are taken, off to lightroom they go. i honestly don't do much editing in lightroom in terms of color grading. i mainly focus on the details and lights sections. here are my settings...

here are examples, before and after, of what the edits look like on top of the reshade

these are the same settings i use for all my photos. with the exception of the 'contrast' slider which I sometimes bring up for sims with darker skin tones. and the 'shadows' slider i sometimes bring down for night photos.

chapter 5: shout out to picsart. gotta be one of my favorite genders

from lightroom, i'll then import the photos into picarts to finish them off with light leaks and dust particles (as needed). i use the 'detail' brush under 'retouch' to color in sims and objects in the foreground (rocks, plants, bottles, etc.) to make them pop even more.

i also use this app to blur things that the reshade dof couldn't get to. here are some finished examples before and after.

chapter 6: the sons of picsart

for overlay graphics and texts, i use photoshop and phonto. for the psds, i'll import them into photoshop first to make edits then send them off to picsart to add them to my image. i'll use phonto to add texts and sometimes doodles

here are links to some of my favorite psds and other useful resources

photoshop psds: moodlets, promotions, holiday, ui mockups other resources: sims 4 icons, text message

chapter 7: she doesn't even go here

for cas photos, since there is no tab mode, i just take screenshots as is, with the reshade dof from my preset on to blur out most of the background.

i use the cas lighting by @breezytrait to brighten the cas room up.

cas lighting: hard side light

then edit them in lightroom with he same edits as in-game photos (see chapter 4).

chapter 8: the bell doesn't dismiss you, i do

and that is how i typically edit my photos. i hope this helps inspire you for your future content... and was extensive enough. but of course if you have anymore questions feel free to leave them down below. my inbox is always open and i'm happy to help 😊.

[simm-mouse]

Alright part 2 of my theory on hidden Nervous. I'll have part 1 linked if you haven't read it yet. I suggest reading that one first before this one

Alright, you know the section where I theorized that psp and hidden Nerv being the same clone? Forgot about that part, I no longer believe in that theory(if you personally believe this however that's fine, I'm just changing my views on it.). If you look on the wiki, there are a total of 5 versions of Nervous Subject. We already have two in Sims 2, but he also appears in 3 and 4. But the one in Sims 3 isn't going to be talked about cuz it's just him as a toddler, which doesn't really make any sense because mostly the adults and elders in 2, are children or have not yet been born, not even Glarn and Kitty appear, but Glarn's parents Notso and Zo appear not even as teenagers yet. If we go with the more common theory for the sims timeline that each game adds 25 years later besides 3, which is supposed to be a prequel, then Nervous would be an elder or dead. Which doesn't make sense (I know it's more the fact that the developers didn't really focus on the timeline from the other two games when adding premades from other games, but still it's confusing).

So we're gonna focus on hidden, psp, and 4 Nervous. All three are clones of Nervous. All three are different from the original as the Sims 2 shows copies of some Sims and they're not identical to the original. I mean look at Pleasantview and strangetown's Bella Goths, their appearances are different. Even though all four look different, one thing's the same. All four smell of trauma and cat piss

Hidden would actually not be seen outside of the house as he never got to explore out into the world before his death(which fits more with the name hidden Nervous). He still ages into an elder by the Beaker's experiment. But they didn't have enough elixir of life to age him back, so he didn't get age down right away. So after they torture him he goes up to the roof to look at the sky. Just like with the friday the 13th video, He dies by getting struck by a meteorite.

For psp Nervous, he looks the most normal out of all versions of Nervous. It's pretty known why he's like that, but I like to think that he's the most genetically accurate. He'll have Olive's, and Grim's biological genetics before his death. So he'll be almost completely different, other than having the same clothes, it's hard to tell that he's even a clone. So it's very easy for him to walk around town and not be mistaken as the original Nervous. He would still say that he's just working for the Beakers as a way to hide the truth from others. He probably was caught after they found him trying to sneak out, and that's when It was impossible for him to escape and had more painful experiments done on him. His body just couldn't take it anymore, and that's when he was shocked to death by one of the machines used on him. Well shit, two clones are dead, hopefully the next one doesn't die

The current clone they have is the Nervous from the sims 4. Even though that game is an alternate universe or some dumb shit that messes with the timeline, he's a Nervous so he's gonna be talked about. This Nervous is trapped with now four Beakers. Yes, Atom and Ceres also torment this man. They'd even put the blame on him for the trouble they caused. He has yet to go out and explore the world, so right now he's stuck in the house.

Does Nervous know that he has clones? Probably, he figures that the Beakers would clone him if they haven't put in the effort to get him back since he ran off to live with the Curious brothers. Has he ever met the psp Nerv since he's the only clone that went outside? No, if so they would've been fist fighting

[kashmiresims]

Hi Charmful, I really love your amazing neighborhood! It is fantastic to see the passion you've put in this project for about 17 (!) years! What advice would you give to someone who wishes to start their own custom hood with many subhoods and stories, like yours? What are in your opinions some do's and don'ts (be it about technicalities, gameplay or even mindset)? Thanks in advance and I apologise if this question has already been asked :)

No! You are completely fine, I appreciate the question. Very few ever ask me questions on my tumblr anyhow. I just go around giving this advice every so often when I see it asked about how to start custom hoods on the big TS2 Facebook Group or the Sims 2 Subreddit, haha! So, going into your own hood/subhoods project sounds really daunting and it's not a feat for the impatient or those that have a penchant for serial restarting playstyle. 1. Grow it organically. If that seems too loose of a perimeter for someone, they can always use a structured BACC as a springboard. One of my favorite TS2 Twitch streamers, ChocolatCitySim has built her amazing custom hood and subhoods up from a BACC. Here is an album of my hoods and subhoods showing them in 2015 and 2022 and the progress it made and even at present they look different than they did in 2022. 2. Create a solid set of sims or families you want to be the foundation population. They could be founders, you could have a headcanon of why they moved to town, or how they fit into the lore of your custom hood. These sims you will play for a long time, hopefully enough to see their children's children and such. My best advice is aim for 5-8 families and then sprinkle in some YAs (if you add a Uni right off) and single adults that are ready to mingle. Add new families and sims as you progress and as needed to grow your population. 3. Don't be afraid! Why is this important? Because Kashmire wouldn't be what it is today if I had panicked at every glitch, accident, or unintended situation that cropped up. It has actually enhanced my hood lore as the years have gone by. It makes for a unique story twist or quirk when something happens and you have to interpret or explain it away into a narrative or hood canon. Don't be afraid to start playing before the hood is 'done'; spoiler alert: a custom hood is never 'done' it might have a good few years stretch of you not updating anything in it until you need it but if you are like me and get the urge to go ham on hood deco after 14 or so years, it's gonna always be in flux! Obsessing with getting a custom hood 'done' before playing it is the quickest way to burn out and abandon your goal. Also, don't be afraid to completely chuck stuff you have downloaded or built and are not feeling anymore. Or re-arranging entire sections of your hood. In real life, civilizations grow and change and seeing that progress in your own neighborhood can be rewarding! You can even send sims you aren't feeling anymore off to another place, or make them townies, or kill them off. I've never played in strict rotation, I've lost sims to glitches, and I've bulldozed more than half my original builds to try and build or download something better.

4. Back to the building of it, I wish I had done it sooner but it's helpful to kind of know what zones of your hood are. Commercial vs Residential, vs greenspace use. Use hood deco to build up parts to make it look busier if you are going for a more urban hood or subhood but don't have a lot of playable lots yet. If you aren't a builder, download lots, there are so many good ones out there! On the same note of building, try to have your basic necessity community lots in every subhood so the sim doesn't have to travel through 2 screens to get a cup of coffee or go to a gym, but you can vary those community lots unless you want to simulate a 'chain' (a chain of restaurants, gyms, coffee shops). Then, try to also have some unique places in each subhood. Places your sims might want to go to impress a date, or dancing with friends, fill a want that comes up less often. I could wax poetic about all the different lots around Kashmire but to not exceed a response character count, I shant. 5. A subtle thing you can do is develop an identity for your different areas/subhoods. You can do this with themes, flora, deco, and even the sims that live there. 6. Let the stories come naturally and retcon what doesn't work anymore. After playing for so many years in Kashmire, stories develop in a variety of ways--most have developed through the gameplay aspect itself mixed with being inspired by lots or poseboxes or just fun scenarios I want to try to play and execute. If you don't have a stellar memory like I do (which is how I keep everything in order) document your play through notes and pics! Even just putting up little blurbs on your tumblr with a few pics can help you start a narrative and then use it to go back to reference. If not here, any blogging site, a forum, or any other place you can post will do! 7. Be choosy with your cc. Things will come along you will WANT but do you really NEED it? This is a good rule of thumb for any Sims 2 player honestly. 8. MAKE BACK UPS. CONSISTENTLY MAKE BACK UPS OF YOUR HOOD AND GAME. RELIGIOUSLY STORE THEM SOMEPLACE SAFE because your heart will break if one day your SSD melts and all your backups were on it and you don't have an amazing computer wizard husband to save your custom hood's ass. People always ask me 'How have you played the same Sims 2 neighborhood for 17 years?!' and my answer: BACK UPS. That's all I can think of off the top of my mind. Thanks for the question and good luck on your Sims 2 custom hood journey!

[doki-doki-lesbians-club]

Thumbs up or thumbs down on the following headcanons:

Full poly DDLC, including MC.

2. MC (or our) actions regarding going back and getting the actual good ending (Sayori saying "Thank you for playing DDLC" and "We love you") to the base game because they/we felt they deserved it is what moves her to help rescue Monika from the digital void and forgive her. Unlike before, Monika doesn't take Sayori's feelings and actions for granted anymore and vows to do better by everyone.

3. MC helped Monika see the full error of her ways, after some hesitation about accepting herself as a character in a dating-sim world, by showing her glimpses of what our world actually looks like--take your pick of any number of "Where Were You When..."-type events in US or world history--and why many of us turn to games like DDLC for escape and comfort because of the general discrepancy in quality of life between game and reality. Monika feels much more secure about herself and her meta and in-world purposes to us and her friends after processing these revelations with MC.

4. The DLC side stories might actually take place after the good ending, rather than before the game proper, with everyone exploring their friendships with each other and Monika still being in a place where she feels some remorse for what she's done, but is unsure how to move forward in either a meta or in-universe sense (i.e., before MC shows her our real world).

5. Yuri and Natsuki were VERY slow to forgive Monika (Nats especially) after she finally sat down with everyone and explained everything that's happened. Once they see the daily/weekly efforts she makes to be a better person and friend (and later partner) to all of them, though, they gradually soften up to her over time.

6. The polycule came together haphazardly at first; with MC and Sayori picking up right where they left off and Yuri and Natsuki developing feelings for each other. After rescuing Monika, though, Sayori eventually admits to MC about catching feelings for her, too, something MC begrudgingly admits they've also been dealing with off and on since first joining the club. Once forgiven and persuaded, Monika makes a trio with them, and after earning Yuri and Natsuki's forgiveness over time, Yuri eventually persuades Nats to make the jump together to a love pentagon (the latter being VERY against the idea at first for reasons of past trauma and fear of being alone again if it all fell apart) after both begin to see some of Monika, and the others', more positive qualities too--Natsuki admits that she had fleeting crushes on the other three off and on but was too scared to act on them before and didn't want to hurt Yuri once they hooked up, and Yuri says the same.

What do you think? (Sorry for the infodump.)

You said "thumbs up or thumbs down" but if you've seen my blog at all, you'll know I'll say a little more than that XD

Poly dokis + MC? Could work! Not my personal preference, but I could definitely see it working out, particularly with the transfem MC headcanon I enjoy so much! these girls are gay i don't make the rules

Club President Sayori saving Monika? 🥺 Yeah, yeah she does

This one could work, especially in the context of the DDLC+ Side Stories. She comes to accept that while she is still a "character", she is oh-so important to the people around her, and they're all more real than she may have realized. I think she would definitely come to accept her world and learn to embrace it!

This one is a very interesting take! I think by our best canon estimates, the side stories take place before, but placing them after has an interesting affect on #3 above! I like this idea, but if we're still rolling with MC joining them, I don't know how to explain his absence ahaha!

I agree wholeheartedly with this one, Nats and Yuri are definitely the kind who find it hard to trust in the first place, and even harder to open up again when they feel that trust to be violated.

I like it! Again, within the context of the side stories where every pairing of the girls got their own time alone, this lends itself to all of them realizing they can't pick just one, and forming a polycule. Honestly this point makes me feel like I'm responding to a fanfic outline! XD

I mean, all of this felt like I'm responding to a fanfic outline, in a good way! It seems you've put some time into thinking about these things, and I think that's really cool :3 keep it up! And thanks for the ask!

[nikatyler]

List 5 facts about a favorite sim of yours, and send this to 10 simblrs whose sims you adore ♥♥♥

Thank you! I'm gonna do Sharon today.

1. I’ve mentioned it recently, but I’m changing up the reason why she comes to Twinbrook a little bit. Originally, her father gets a new job in Twinbrook, but there’s nothing else really about it. That's all, just a new job. Now, there’s a bit more to that. He’s a detective, and he’s been called to the area to solve a strange crime others have been struggling with. He spends most days working on the case over in Bridgeport. He’s very careful with his daughter, he wants to keep her really really safe (maybe too safe), but he’s so busy now, much more than he used to be back at home. He just can't look after her as much as he used to. So, Sharon finds new friends and spends a lot of time with them, she hates being alone in their little rented home. When he finds out, he doesn’t approve at all, but it’s too late. They’re already close and she’s already developed feelings for a certain disaster.

2. Okay this might seem like I’m making it more about Nathan, her father, but no, we’ll get strictly to Sharon in a minute. Anyway, he wasn’t always a, well, stuck up boring serious adult grumpy about the youth today. Back in the day, he was quite a specimen of the rebellious youth too, but he says he learned and matured and grew out of it. Still, something from those days stayed with him, his love for rock music. He’s got a huge collection of old CDs, tapes and vinyls, and he shares this passion with his daughter. It's one of the few remaining things they can bond over. He doesn't get her at all anymore.

3. You might remember that after the Werewolves GP dropped, I was debating making her a werewolf again. Way back when I first created her, she was one, then I scratched it halfway through gen 4, then I started thinking about it again in 2022. Well, I can now tell you that she will be turned into a werewolf, early 30s or something like that. Not gonna go into detail but before that she gets a new coach, he turns out to be a piece of crap, she decides to fire him, he gets angry, turns out he’s a werewolf, and he attacks her and…yeah. That’s about it. 😬

4. Besides dyeing her hair blue (which is totally trademark kinda thingy), she also enjoyed bleaching her hair an even lighter shade of blonde once, but it was really stressful, she thought she was going to lose her hair. She dyes her hair at home always, even if she could afford to go to the salon. It comes with risks sure, but she just prefers it. Salons and hairdressers are too much to handle sometimes 😂

5. One of my favourite things about Sharon and Tyler’s relationship is the way she brings out the serious side of him while he can bring out the funny side of her. It’s one of the clearest signs how well they complete each other.

[opanchu]

in general final fantasy 14 mods are a curse and a blessing cause on one hand I really fucking hate those mods where it doesn't even look like final fantasy anymore it starts looking like imvu or sims 4 cc. the good parts is when modders provide things that should be in the base game but the devs are too lazy to add like hair thicker than loose type 2 waves or fat body types

[emeritus-fuckers]

Match-up event - Jez

(Nyx and I decided to match each other up for lols)

Let's go. I'm twenty, agender (afab), somewhere between bi and pansexual, poly and somewhere under the aromantic umbrella. Don't mind any pronouns in particular. I want one match-up with a human and one with a ghoul (let's see how you handle it babes). I study writing, might pick up a second major in journalism, dunno yet. Theistic satanist. Monsterfucker. Mask kink af.

I'm 164 centimeters tall (I'm not looking it up in feet). I've got a soft tummy and pretty good ass (lmao). You know how I look like, though I am planning to dye my hair blue.

They're not done yet, but I wanna include this anyway: tattoos. I'm not including any that could guide you to a potential result :p

Little cartoon seal on my right arm (for my sister)

Little cartoon panda on my right arm (for my brother)

Spider-Punk emblem on my left shoulder

666 under my left collar bone

A little plague doctor on my right arm

Also planning to get a shit ton of piercings all over my body. (Not just face and ears if you know what i mean), but that's for later. I like getting my nails done, usually to colors are symbolic or just a reference to something.

I usually wear skinny jeans and hoodies with some weird print. I love oversized hoodies, they are like my main source of comfort. I have chains attached to my pants, and I love wearing too many necklaces. I usually have ghearrings (the ghost crosses) in my ears and another one on a chain around my neck. Also wearing a Baphomet (like the goat head in a pentagram) necklace, a pride heart one, a matching besties necklace with Vic and occasionally a choker. I do occasionally do all out, wearing a white dress shirt, black skinny jeans, a leather jacket and the listed jewelry with my favorite rainbow sneakers and round sunglasses. With lots of rings, mostly something skull/plant/occult themed. Always silverish color, never gold. I don't like gold.

Outside from Ghost, I mostly listen to rock and different kinds of metal. And FNaF songs.

I was a Creepypasta kid. Aside from Polish and English I speak some German and bits of Italian, but very little. I can read most arabic letters (as in I know what sounds they make).

I have lots of different posters on my walls and I have stickers on my furniture because I grew up too fast and I'm catching up on my childhood now. I've got mental issues, including but not limited to autism, ADHD, depression, anxiety, mommy issues and daddy issues. I like calling them my pokemon.

I like writing (though I barely have time for that) and re-watching Total Drama (watched it 8 times just this year) since it manages to keep my attention, something most movies fail to do, which is why I barely watch anything. I get bored very easily. I play the Sims 4 a lot, but I can't build in it for the life of me. I'm amazing at building in the Sims 3. Big fan of Assassin's Creed (I don't like the new ones, though, since it doesn't feel like AC anymore to me). I own many true crime and paranormal activity books, though I can barely read at this point. I like manga, though. Currently collecting the Soul Eater series. I love plushies. I got a new one today. Their name is Pyza. (Yes, they're enby, I even got them a pin)

I know way more about butterflies than I should. I know lots of useless trivia in general. Most of it disturbing. I'm tired 24/7, but my body either wakes up before 7AM or after 6 hours exactly and it's impossible for me to fall asleep again. My room is usually a mess, but that's okay, so am I.

I'm a total introvert, but I'm also so tired with life I forced myself to become the extrovert of the group. I'm really loud if I like people, although my affection is usually random touches on someone's arms and shoulders with a strange noise. I make noises. A lot.

For some reason, babies love me. Even though I personally dislike children. I love pets, though. All sorts of pets. Cats, dogs, snakes, spiders... Anything. If I can pet it, I want to pet it. I love moths from the attacus family, I mean just look at this gorgeous girl!

As for my personality, aside from daily mental breakdowns, I'm relatively chill, just... Very unhinged. I talked about Secondo's dick piercings in McDonald's. Compared to the shit I say, Terzo's an angel.

I think that's all. Have fun babes <3 - Jez

[cinamun]

TAGGED by @simmerstellar ! Thanks friend!

Come get to know me y'all!

1. What’s your favorite sims death? I haven't had a sim die from anything other than old age in a HOT minute but I saw a LP and the murphy bed death seems so unecessarily violent lmfao.

2. Alpha CC or Maxis Match? BOTH! I consider my style Maxis Mix. We love a nice combo of both.

3. Do you cheat when your sims gain weight? Not anymore but at one point I had to. Let me explain: I don't know if it was a glitch but like after every meal with grannie's cookbook, Indya would gain weight instantly. Didn't happen with anyone else (although everyone else are athletes of some sort). She's always and forever thick but something was definitely up with the food mods I was using. Anyway, we're good now since I'm not playing her HH exclusively anymore.

4. Do you use move objects? Absolutely. Its too restrictive! Gotta play test when I do though because routing errors make me irrationally angry.

5. Favorite mod? Wickedwhims. I don't care! If I want my sims to get freak-nasty I have a blog for that and WW never fumbles. If I want them to do cute little intimate things, WW is there. If you don't like the smut, I feel bad for you son.

6. First expansion/game/stuff pack you got? I've gotten pretty much ever iteration of this game except for almost all of the kits and the star wars pack.

7. Do you pronounce “live mode” like aLIVE or LIVing? ALIVE. I don't understand the other one honestly lol. We're going LIVE as soon as I press play so....

8. Who’s your favorite sim that you’ve made? Obvs Indya Drake!

9. Have you made a simself? Yes! But she needs help lol I'm not good at that at all so there's a resemblance but she doesn't really look like me. When I do gameplay with her I say she's my "sorta-kinda self sim" lol

10. What sim traits do you give yourself? gloomy, neat, loner, romantic

11. Which is your favorite EA hair color? Black but like BLACK Black, not the BLUE Black lol.

12. Favorite EA hair? All of the afro textured ones.

13. Favorite life stage? Young adults.

14. Are you a builder or are you in it for the gameplay? Gameplay mostly stories but I love to decorate!

15. Are you a CC creator? I will recolor the shit out of something! That's about it lol

16. Do you have any simblr friends/a sim squad? All my mutuals and anyone who reads my story! #Squad

17. What’s your favorite game? The Sims 4 is the only game I play. Don't @ me.

18. Do you have any sims merch? Nope.

19. Do you have a YouTube for sims? Nope, but I have been asked to make a channel and got that far at least. No videos lol.

20. How has your “sim style” changed throughout your years of playing? If anything, less alpha and more maxis match.

21. What’s your Origin ID? [redacted]

22. Who’s your favorite CC creator? All of the ones that do it for FREE and for the love of the game. I donate too because I understand its not easy, but also not worth a month long paywall or conveniently forgetting to publicly release something.

23. How long have you had a simblr? 2015 are my earliest posts I think.

24. How do you edit your pictures? Gshade and Photoshop Elements 2020

25. What expansion/game/stuff pack is your favorite so far? Cottage Living is the goat IMO even though I don't play it much anymore. I do very much enjoy Island Living and Growing Together will round out a nice top 3.

26. What expansion/game/stuff pack do you want next? I haven't really thought about it. I just figure the sims 4 is nearing the end of its era and we're gonna start hearing about project rene more and more.

oh! tagging @shesthespinstersimmer @bridgeportbritt @iplaysims4 @beebeesiims @thegloomiestwhim @hazelminesims @therichantsim @omgkayplays @softerhaze @crsentfairy

please ignore if you don't do these or already did this!

[cozycorner]

Hi there :) I was wondering if you have any gameplay tips? Like how not to give up on a legacy after 2 gens lol thank you!

HIII OMG YES!! i am sooo glad you asked 🥰

dressing up / my aging system

something i've been doing a lot lately (as you can probably tell / will now notice in my almond legacy) is changing their looks to represent their age. in my game, each life stage will have a total of 2 makeovers (teenagers will get 3. the third being the transition into young adulthood). the first makeover is the glow up from whatever they had on when they aged up to how i envision them and then the second makeover is to better show their growth and finding out who they are. typically the makeovers will also represent their age: how i play regarding aging rules is each life stage has 2 ages (with, again, teenagers having 3). i haven't put a whole lot of time or thought into my aging system but it goes a little something like this: - infant: newborn to 1 year - toddler: 2 years old to 4 years old - child: 9 years old to 12 years old - teenager: 17 years old to 18 years old to 19 years old - young adult: 21 years old to 30 years old - adult: 40 years old to 60 years old - elder: 75 years old to death this helps a lot with keeping things feeling fresh and also more realistic. if i'm feeling up to it, i'll even change up their room a bit to represent personal growth and discovery too. if i haven't played in a while, i'll give them an additional makeover because it just gets me more excited to play, idk djkfhg i'll also play with aging off and then manually age my sims and their friends up whenever it feels right. that way i don't feel rushed or have a sim's life feel like it's dragging on.

🌈 imaaagination 🌈

a big part of playing the sims, especially sims 4, is using your imagination and really playing up what's going on. in my current household, for example, abby went to see muffy the day after prom and in my mind, she was there to say "choose between me and him" but obviously that's an impossible interaction to play out in the game.. so i just made it up! and then i took note of muffy's autonomous interactions after this (i.e if she were to call / text / see frankie more often, i would decide that she chose him and if she were to call / text / see abby more, i'd say she chose her)**. this type of gameplay can take some getting used to though. especially if you don't really have any ideas in mind on what to do. which brings me to my next point...

putting the rest under a cut cause i didn't realize how long this would be ♡♡

take inspiration from your favourite shows!!

there's no right or wrong way to play the sims. but drama spices things up a looot. sometimes drama just plays out naturally without any intervention but something you can do is take inspiration from various shows that i've watched (even though i rewatch the same 3 comfort shows DSFLKG) an example of taking inspiration from a show could be having your sim have a best friend at their workplace who they're secretly in love with and trying to remain just friends with (because they're already engaged to someone else).. a la pam x jim from the office. and the best part is that because you're only taking inspiration, it doesn't have to play out the exact same way! using the pam x jim example, i could have my sim fight their bestie's fiancé and end up having their bestie unfriend them in the process as opposed to the engagement being broken off and my sim dating their bestie.

breaks are essential

if you're feeling tired of the sims, take a break from it! play other games, explore other hobbies.. my "process" is typically playing for a week or 2 and then taking a break for a bit when i notice i'm not as excited to play anymore. this helps a lot with avoiding being burnt out from the game. i also always know that that vibe to play will eventually come back which definitely helps!

let the sims control the story

i'll use the previous example of muffy having to choose between abby and frankie. ** by taking note of your sim's autonomous interactions, it allows them to tell their own story instead of you choosing a path for them. once you get a good feel for what your sim is wanting to do (for my example: muffy chooses abby because she interacts with her more), then you can start to play more and decide what they would do based on that information, if that makes sense.

ngl i could go on and on SKDFJGHKJSDFG but this is already long af so i'm going to leave it there. if you want more ideas, plumbie has an aaammmmaaaazzinnnggg playlist of gameplay ideas!! here's a quick link to that if you want to check it out.

please let me know if you have any comments or questions ˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶ happy simming!!